This invention relates to a new and improved self adjustable, soft neck support collar which can mount a heating and/or cooling element while restraining lateral, forward and backward movement of the neck.
A wide variety of neck support collars are in the market, and typical collars are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,964,962 2,389,690; 2,806,471; 3,964,474; 4,582,051; 4,700,697; 4,708,129; 4,958,631; and, 5,029,577. Some of these patents describe devices which are air inflatable, and while these devices provide support for a user's neck, the described air inflatable devices are not self adjustable, since air is the supporting medium. Other of these patented devices have fairly complicated collars which are expensive, and still other devices require adjustable straps. Additional types of these patented devices may be inexpensive to produce, but are not suitable for high volume, mass production.
Various other patents describe soft, unitary, solid foam neck support collars, but fail to provide sufficient resiliency when the neck is at rest, and do not provide enough resistance to lateral, forward or backward bending of the neck. Also, solid foam neck support collars fail to provide a means to vary the resiliency of the neck support for a given neck position. Moreover, solid foam block materials in general tend to buckle about midway along their length due to the pressure caused by neck motion. Finally, none of the patented devices provide a means to vary the temperature of the neck support for the purpose of providing sustained cooling or heating of a patient's neck, without disrupting the support function of the collar.
It would be desirable to provide a soft neck support device which has a simple construction and is inexpensive to manufacture, and can easily be mass produced to reduce costs. Also, the device should impart suitable neck restraint, and should be self adjusting in the sense that as the user's neck moves away from an erect position, the neck support provides increasing resistance in the direction of neck motion, rather than buckling. The device should also be adjustable to provide a variable resistance at the patient's discretion for a given fixed neck position.
Preferably, the device should enable use of a temperature control element to heat or cool the neck, which can be easily insertable and removable from the device while functioning as an additional reinforcement. This temperature control element should not add significantly to the bulk of the support collar, while still maintaining a smooth contact surface therewith. It would also be advantageous if the temperature control element did not require any securing or attachment means to maintain its position in the support collar.
In Applicant's U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,958,631 and 5,029,577 a soft, tubular neck support collar is disclosed in which the tubes are sewn together, and function to support a patient's neck. However, once the tubular elements are sewn together, the user cannot change the size or orientation of the tubes, and hence if different sized elements are preferred, a new set of tubular elements must be purchased. This is not only expensive from the patient's standpoint, but the manufacturer and retailer also must stock a wider size range of tubular elements.
Also, it would be desirable to provide a reinforcement for the tubular elements of the neck support which can more closely control the neck support, and which can be readily removed, e.g., during a resting period, if necessary. Also, it would be desirable to provide a soft tubular neck support which easily and variably aligns the tubular elements.